1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods of document verification. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method of providing authentication codes over a network to embed in or print on documents for verification and authentication purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are several methods known to embed security measures into a document to help prove that the document is authentic. The most basic methods are to impose or emboss a visible seal on the document. It is also known to use a watermark or a ribbon in the substrate of the document, or use color shifting ink, all of which are readily visible to a person viewing the document. There are other methods to maintain document authenticity which are not readily visible to a viewer, such as microprinting, or the use of heat or light sensitive ink.
One particularly important area for document authentication concerns lottery tickets. In most instances, mere possession of a winning lottery ticket entitles the holder to the winnings. Thus, authentication of the presented lottery ticket is critically important. For example, lottery on-line tickets which are common in many countries and states are, by necessity, printed and presented to the purchaser in real-time with transactional data printed on the lottery ticket via a thermal or impact printer. To enhance security, lotteries typically use preprinted ticket stock with serial numbering on the back of the printing substrate as well as fluorescent and other inks on the ticket substrate to help prove authenticity and integrity. The preprinted serial numbering provides much of the security in determining the authenticity of a winning ticket because the distribution of the preprinted serial number ticket stock is maintained by an entity separate from the one controlling the printing of transactional data. When a winning ticket is presented for redemption, an audit trail can be established between the ticket stock serial number and the transactional data.
However, this added paper stock security has the disadvantage of high cost, as well as the logistics of tracking the ticket stock. Also, the labor intensive nature of correlating the ticket stock to an on-line lottery ticket printed at a given retailer at a given time typically prohibits the method's use for all but high-tier winning tickets. Finally, it may be possible for an insider with access to the system controlling the printing of transactional data to simply purchase a Lottery ticket from a retailer shortly after it was determined that that a high tier winner was sold at that location to thereby gain illicit knowledge of the appropriate ticket stock serial number range.
A second tier of defense can be added to on-line ticket security through either encrypting the ticket-provider transactional database or the printed ticket serial numbers. This encryption stops readily discernable correlation between the ticket provider database, which contains the listing of winning tickets, and the actual on-line ticket serial numbers printed in the field. Such action prevents an insider with access to the winning database from being able to counterfeit winning ticket serial numbers. Further, the encryption technique has the advantage of securing both high and low tier redemptions as opposed to logistical limitations limiting ticket stock serial number validation to high tier fraud. However, the method of on-line serial number encryption relies upon the encryption keys being unknown to insiders. Also, on-line serial number encryption creates a processing burden on all sales transactions at the ticket-provider and has the possibility of locking-out all legitimate redemptions if the secret encryption/decryption key(s) become lost.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method to allow verification for remotely printed documents that does not rely upon preprinted substrate. Further, especially regarding on-line lottery tickets, such method should allow the verification and authentication of all printed documents with minimal cost in doing so. It is thus to a novel system and method for providing authentication codes across a network for use on documents that the present invention is primarily directed.